Strength
by 1in100Authors
Summary: Nico DiAngelo is not a sob story. He's not this angsty emo kid who nobody will ever understand. He's strong, and that means that he'll never falter. No; he did his job and took on his destiny like all demigods are fated to, and he doesn't have time to be weak. Second tribute to PJO; HOO version.


**I've been here on Fan Fiction for a long time and although I don't write too much because I prefer reading, my heart sometimes makes me reach out to characters. I promised a second half of my tribute to the Percy Jackson series in HOO version, so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, okay, Zeus! Enough with the theatrics! Yes, I know I don't own this series. Gods, how are you such a freaking drama queen? *lightning* OW! Oh, now you're gonna get it you stupid old man!**

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Nico DiAngelo is _not _a sob story. He's not this angsty emo kid who nobody will ever understand. He's strong, and that means that he'll never falter. No; he does his job and takes on his destiny like all demigods are fated to, and he doesn't have time to be weak. He's a son of the Big Three, and more is expected of him. He has to be the hero and his past only made it more clear.

That's what he tells himself every night before bed, and he never doubted it.

He wasn't allowed to.

**~O~**

It was his stupidity, he decides, that landed him in Tartarus.

Alone.

But he was a son of Hades. This was his realm and he was expected to stay strong when no one else was, because he was a hero.

[And then, he reminded himself that even the gods were afraid of this place.]

But he didn't falter, because the gods always sat back and watched as everyone else perished. They were pigheaded and arrogant, refusing to believe themselves to be wrong. They made their children _bow down _to them. They believed themselves to be higher beings because they had power, even though they feared that their own children would revolt against them and defeat them.

No, Nico had nothing to fear because he couldn't let himself be afraid. There was nothing left to fear, anyways. He had already helped fulfill his part of the Great Prophecy. The world no longer needed him, and he was happy to be free from so much responsibility. He would never think to say that, though, because he wasn't allowed to be weak.

But no matter how much he steeled himself after Tartarus, he was terrified and traumatized while in that terrible, terrible pit of darkness.

He would never admit it, though, because he was a demigod and demigods all had unfavorable destinies. He had accepted that.

**~O~**

And so he was also calm when he was attacked by the monsters.

Well, giants.

_Two _giants.

He had fought them for hours on end, but he couldn't defeat giants. No without a god. But by then he had been done with the Olympians. He no longer prayed to them; not even to his father.

So he would go down fighting. The effort was futile, and he knew it, but he had to make a statement. If not for himself, then for the rest of the heroes alive and fallen who had perished in the gods' names because of the the Olympians' self-righteousness.

_You praise your children when they do good and save lives. You brag about their achievements as if they were yours, Olympus. But never could you be bothered to help your children along the way unless they pray to you. You sicken me._

He shook his head. He knew he wouldn't last much longer, but he comforted himself with the fact that he knew that truth, was armed with the truth, and that he would go down knowing exactly what the world was. He would be forgotten after the gods stopped being royally pissed off at him - if they were listening in on his thoughts, anyway - but he would never forgive himself if he didn't get it out.

_You even forced your fellow Olympians to do things for you because you believed that you deserved it. You cheat on your wives; the ones that you forced into marrying you and then you wonder why they're so bitter. You cloud your judgement with your pride and refuse to make the right decisions because people don't beg you to. Then you punish heroes for doing anything that may even be seen as an insult to your 'greatness'. Us demigods have been there for you because you are our only family - mostly because you decided to kill our mortal parents. You pretend to be higher beings, but you act like children._

These giants wished to capture him and he knew that (they would have already killed him otherwise). He wouldn't give them that satisfaction, though; he would die fighting. Not in the name of the arrogant Olympians, but in the name of the heroes who were never celebrated; the ones who fought valiantly in teams. He fought for the heroes who would not take part in prophecies and who would never be recalled by name.

He would be strong for those who no longer could.

Those were Nico's thoughts before the giants were restricted by vines and a note appeared, floating in the air, accompanied by five pomegranate seeds.

_The twins snuff out the angel's breath_

_Who holds the key to endless death_

He feels irritation flare inside of him like he's never felt before, because he understands. The gods would not let him die because they still needed him. They had the nerve to believe that after everything they had put hi- _no, _he reprimanded himself. After everything they put all heroes through, they still believed that he would help them. Why? Because they were the arrogant, self-righteous Olympians who couldn't be bothered to solve their own problems.

But he also knew that if he didn't, then other demigods would suffer.

He couldn't let that happen.

And, so, he still had to be a hero.

[And for once in his life, he admitted that he was tired of being the hero.]

But he had to be strong.

He was a child of the Big Three, he reminded himself bitterly.

He had to be the hero.

And _gods dammit, _he was _not_ like the Olympians, and he would _not_ abandon his fellow demigods when they needed him most.

So he took the pomegranate seeds and put himself under the stupid freaking death trance and waited.

**~O~**

The night before he'd travel with Reyna and Hedge to Camp to bring the Athena Parthenos back, he shadow traveled to camp - on his own.

It's pretty funny, he decides, because he can get here in minutes on his own, yet it would take days to travel back here with other people... and a twenty-foot giant statue. That too.

He enters his cabin, which hadn't changed at all since he had left.

The first thing he notices is the photograph hanging upon his wall, the one he recently added. It was a picture of himself when he was 11, next to his sister. He was holding a Mythomagic card and had a goofy smile on his face.

Nico still remembers that day. That day, he had gotten a super rare card because of sheer luck. Back then, the gods seemed cool with all of their super awesome powers.

That makes him realize how much he had changed.

A small, itsy-bitsy part of himself longs to be that innocent kid again. He wants to forget, and a selfish corner of his heart longs to have his sister beside him once again, alive, even though she had left him for the Hunters all those years ago.

Even though she had left him alone in the world.

But he knows that it was for the better. Now he had a reason to fight because he would _not _abandon his fellow demigods like she had done to him. He had to defend his fellow demigods and the result was himself losing his trust in the world, after seeing all the bad it had done. That's how he convinces himself that it's a good time as any to leave his past behind. Forever.

_There's no going back now. There's no time for reminiscing. The world is in danger and you can't be childishly wishing for things that will never become a reality._

But when he leaves his cabin, he takes the picture with him.

He tells himself that it's to remind him why he left, but he knows better.

[That night, he dreams of seeing his sister again. And when the dream is gone, he finds himself wishing for more time. But he'll never get it. He's accepted it.

A hero's life is nothing but tragic, after all.]

**~O~**

He doesn't fight alongside his parents like the Seven do. He doesn't particularly care and he honestly just wants it to end.

But he's not allowed to think like that.

He has to be a hero.

He doesn't plan on fighting a giant at all, and so he simply walks away. He had led them towards the other side of the doors and he did his part. He was done now, his part of the prophecy fulfilled.

"Would you really deny me my fight, hero?" a voice whispers.

He feels anger and bitterness surge in his chest and something that tastes like bile because he knows what he has to do and he hates it.

He pauses, looking back.

It was Persephone, looking at him haughtily.

_And they have the nerve to be self-righteous. Of course. They are the Olympians, after all. Even now they would dare be so arrogant. I'm done being their pawn._

But he helps her anyway, because he has to be a hero.

He summons a bunch of skeletal warriors and makes a slash on the giant's shoulder. Then he waits for her to finish him off. He would have put in more effort, but he honestly didn't care. Not really.

When she thanks him, he says nothing. All he does is disappear in a cocoon of shadows.

**~O~**

And maybe he goes back to Cabin 13 and cries it all out because it just wasn't _fair _and why did it have to be _him, him of all people _who had to be the hero and disregard his feelings because he _knows _that things could have been different and if Bianca had been able to stop treating him like a _baby _and _listened to him _then maybe -

But he doesn't get to think that, which is why he leaves his cabin the next day and goes outside to help his team kick the opposition's butt in Capture the Flag.

Because he still has to be the hero, even after the war.

Even after everything.

Then again, nobody even remembers the little boy with a big sister and an elaborate set of Mythomagic cards. Nobody will ever know of his sacrifices for them, because it's a completely and utterly internal thing.

No, they will remember the skinny, pale and aloof son of Hades.

But he still had to be the hero.

[Even though no one else would acknowledge it.]

**~O~**

You know that his mother had been murdered by the King of the Gods.

You know that his sister had betrayed him for a prejudiced goddess who would kill a man just because of his gender.

You know that he had lost his childhood to a war.

You know that he survived Tartarus. Alone.

You know that he had the courage to stand up to two giants.

You know that the gods put him through a ton of crap that he didn't deserve, and that he hates them for it.

When you see Nico DiAngelo, you see a kid who had to grow up too quickly and became depressed. You see the acceptance in his eyes that he will never have a happy ending.

But what you don't see is the fire blazing in his eyes when he fights for his friends.

What you don't see is everything he puts behind him so that he can fight for the greater good.

What you don't see is the strength that flows in his blood and the sense of responsibility that he feels towards his friends.

My point, dear readers, is that things are not how they seem to be. Nico DiAngelo is looked upon as a person who broke under the pressure of the world when reality finally hit him in the face with the cold, harsh truth. He is seen as a depressed emo...

But Nico DiAngelo is not an emo. He does not identify as a sob story. He is not a side kick and he is not the boy who broke under the pressure of the truth.

Nico DiAngelo is a hero who put others before himself. He defended his family even after the crap they put him through. He fulfilled his destiny when he didn't want to because of the responsibility he felt towards his fellow demigods. Most weren't even his _friends_ and treated him like crap as well, but he defended them anyways.

Make no mistake; Nico DiAngelo is _not _a depressed emo kid.

Make no mistake.

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**UPDATE 7/12/15: Checked grammar.**

**Nico is probably the character who affected me most, and I find it disgusting the way he is portrayed in many fanfictions. Many times he is written as that kid who doesn't fit in and someone comes and helps him. He is said to be a typical emo, but he is so much more than that. Sometimes, people try to change who he is. Sometimes he is portrayed as a happy-go-lucky kid. He is not. Nico has gone through so many things that changed his view of the world forever. In some Fan Fics, people forget entirely about his fatal flaw; holding grudges.**

**This is a tribute to Nico DiAngelo. It's not much, but I hope that people see this and change their views on him because while Annabeth and Percy went through Tartarus, they went through it together. I don't make it seem to shake Nico too much in there because he never allowed himself admit he was scared to anyone including himself.**

**Even with my greatest efforts, I could never do him justice.**

**Please, though, just please pass this on. Nico deserves to be remembered as a hero and not a sob story. Please. That is all I ask. I only ask of you to review and pass this on because I need to know that someone else has acknowledged who Nico truly is.**

**-1in100Authors**


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